Schnagl told police he and Jelinek went out for drinks on the night of Dec. 8. They went back to his house and went to bed about 2 a.m. When he woke up at 9 a.m., she was gone, he reportedly told investigators.

Schnagl is in custody on drug possession and probation violation charges stemming from a search of his Chisago Lake Township house after Jelinek was reported missing.

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He has not been charged in connection with her disappearance.

Police have searched Schnagl's home, property and vehicles. Search parties have combed nearby roads, ditches and woods. And earlier this month, dive teams searched parts of Bone Lake, which is about 3 miles south of Schnagl's home.

Investigators have come up empty.

"I can tell you that he has maintained through this entire time that he had nothing to do with her disappearance at all," Schnagl's attorney, Rachael Goldberger, said. "I would add from a legal standpoint, it does not appear so far that they have any evidence showing any different. They took samples and samples from cars and the house, and so far it doesn't appear anything is pointing at him."

Goldberger said Jelinek's disappearance has been hard on Schnagl.

"I would say he loved her," Goldberger said. "He's very sad about it. He has only expressed that he wants them to find her."

The family remains convinced that Schnagl or someone out there knows what happened.

"It's so hard and so frustrating because you know somebody has answers," Cory Jelinek said.

Ed Jelinek said he attended a recent hearing in Schnagl's drug case but was escorted out. "I got up and asked him where the hell she is," he said.

"Sometimes I call her cellphone just to listen to her voice. It's comforting," said Ed Jelinek, father of missing Oakdale women Danielle Jelinek, at his home in Cottage Grove on Thursday, January 24, 2013. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

"I wanted him to see me."

For Danielle Jelinek's family, the worst-case scenario is that she is never found and no one ever is held accountable.